The Little Secret
by Thewritingsofashadowhunter
Summary: (MUST HAVE READ COHF TO READ CONTAINS SPOILERS Kind of an alternate ending) When Jace and Alec are looking at the Dark Gard for battle strategy, they see a little shadowhunter girl attack the Endarkend. Jace and Alec assume she is a demon. But when she tumbles back to them, they find out Valentine's had more secrets. And that girl is one of them. (Bad summary but secret is BIG)
1. The Demon Girl

The Little Secret  
Chapter 1-  
(starts with Chapter 21 of City of Heavenly Fire= ' 'part of the original book)

'"God, my head," Alec said as he and Jace knelt beside a ridge of rock that crowned the top of a gray, scree-covered hill. The rock gave them cover, and past it, using Farsighted runes, they could see the half-ruined fortress, and all around it, Dark Shadowhunters clustered like ants.  
It was like a warped mirror of Alicante's Gard Hill. The structure atop it resembled the Gard they knew, but with a massive wall around it, the fortress enclosed within like a garden in a cloister.  
"Maybe you shouldn't have drunk so much last night," Jace said, leaning forward and narrowing his eyes. All around the wall the Endarkened stood in concentric rings, a tight group in front of the gates that led inside. There were smaller groups of them at strategic points up and down the hill. Alec could see Jace computing the numbers of the enemy, considering and discarding strategies in his head.  
"Maybe you should try looking a little less smug about what you did last night," said Alec.  
Jace nearly fell off the ridge. "I do not look smug. Well," he amended, "no more than usual."  
"Please," Alec said, pulling out his stele. "I can read your face like a very open, very pornographic book. I wish I couldn't."  
"Is this your way of telling me to shut my face?" Jace inquired.  
"Remember when you mocked me for sneaking around with Magnus and asked me if I'd fallen on my neck?" Alec asked, placing the tip of the stele against his forearm and starting to draw an iratze. "This is payback."  
Jace snorted and grabbed the stele from Alec. "Give me that," he said, and finished off the iratze for him, with his usual messy flourish. Alec felt the numbing kick as his headache started to recede. Jace turned his attention back to the hill.  
"You know what's interesting?" he said. "I've seen a few flying demons, but they're staying well away from the Dark Gard—"  
Alec raised an eyebrow. "Dark Gard?"  
"Got a better name?" Jace shrugged. "Anyway, they're staying away from the Dark Gard and the hill. They serve Sebastian, but they seem to be respecting his space."  
"Well, they can't be too far away," said Alec. "They got to the Accords Hall pretty fast when you triggered that alarm."  
"They could be inside the fortress," said Jace, voicing what they were both thinking.  
"I wish you'd managed to get the skeptron," Alec said, in a subdued voice. "I got the feeling it could take out a lot of demons. If it still worked, after all these years." Jace had an odd expression on his face. Alec hastened to add, "Not that anyone could have gotten it. You tried—"  
"I'm not so sure," Jace said, his expression both calculating and faraway.  
"Come on, let's get back to the others,"' Alec replied. He had begun to stand up when Jace pulled him down and said "Wait, did you see that?"  
"No, what?"  
Jace shook his head. "Never mind, I thought I saw some movement over by that rock."  
" Then we better get going, it might be a-" Alec started but was cut of by a scream.  
Both boys glanced at each other then looked above the rock. A nearby Endarkend warrior was clutching its stomach, red staining their hands. Next to the warrior was a small child dressed in black with a bloody seraph blade in hand. The warrior lifted one hand, pointed it at the girl and hollered "GET HER!"  
The small girl sprung into action, slashing and hitting anyone who got in her way. She ran off and disappeared into the darkness, Endarkend warriors hot on her tail.  
"Alec, do my eyes deceive me or was that a little shadow hunter?"  
Alec shook his head in confusion and replied " I don't know, but it could have been a eidolon, or a demon trying to trick you into helping them. It's most likely a trap."  
Jace shuddered, remembering the demon that provoked his near death by heavenly fire, and nodded. "Your probably right, let's just get back to the others."  
'There was no time to reply; Jace was already retreating. Alec followed him, crawling backward, out of range of sight of the Dark Gard. Once they had gone enough of a distance, they straightened up and half-slid down the scree slope to where the others were waiting. Simon was standing by Izzy, and Clary had her sketchpad and a pen out and was drawing runes. From the way she was shaking her head, tearing out the pages and crumpling them up in her hand, it wasn't going as well as she might have liked.  
"Are you littering?" Jace demanded as he and Alec jogged to a stop beside the other three.  
Clary glared at him.  
"Jace, this world has been burned to a cinder, and every living creature is dead," Clary said. "I'm fairly sure there's no one left to recycle."'  
Jace said "Ok, ok. Clary, can we talk in private?"  
She nodded, grabbed his hand, and walked over to the start of the slope.  
Alec grunted, rolled his eyes and plopped on the ground.  
"Alec, if your going to sulk, go somewhere else. I would much rather you tell us what you saw, but hey it's your choice." Isabelle remarked.  
Alec glared at her, got up and starred to retell what had happened.


	2. Tumbling Down

The Little Secret-

Chapter 2

When Clary and Jace got to the slope, Clary said "What did you want to talk about? What happened up there?"  
Jace replied "Well, we were about to leave when a little child stabbed an Endarkend warrior in the stomach. The warrior hollered for the other guards to get her and they disappeared. The kid looked like a shadow hunter Clary, she had a seraph blade and everything! Alec thinks it's just a demon of sorts, but I don't think so. Why would a demon attack Endarkend warriors if the demons are controlled by Sebastian here?"  
"That's a good point, but how would a shadowhunter get here alone, especially a little one. I agree with Alec that-" Clary started but stopped when clumps of dirt tumbled down the hill. She looked up and noticed a small figure making its way down the hill. As it drew closer, it's features became more clear. It was a young girl with dark and light curly brown hair, brown eyes with specks of gold. Her face was bloody and bruised and a large gash ran down her leg. She was dressed in shadowhunter gear, and a seraph blade was in her hand. She was very pale, eyes bloodshot. She was struggling to make her way down the slope, when she noticed her and Jace. Her eyes widened, and she went to say something, then she collapsed.

"What the hell! What happened!" Alec exclaimed as he looked at the body of the little girl.  
"Clary and I were talking when the girl started to make her way down the slope and collapsed."  
"How do we know it's not a demon?! Why'd you bring it over here!" Alec hollered.  
Clary boiled with rage and that sentence and said "What, did you except us to leave her there to die!? Now someone give me a stele so I can draw an irazate on her. She is covered in runes already, so I'm assuming she IS in fact a shadowhunter. Plus, I used a sensor, she isn't a demon. Don't think that we're so stupid that we wouldn't check!"  
Isabelle handed Clary her stele and went over to look at the girl.  
"She is a mess! I can barely see her face it's so bloody and dirty! After you heal her you might want to take her to the lake you found and wash her off."  
Clary nodded in agreement and grabbed the girls forearm. She quickly drew and irazate on it and glanced at the gash on her leg. It was healing, which was a good sign. Then, the girl inhaled sharply, sat up, coughed hard and looked up at Clary. Her gaze went from Isabelle, to Alec, stopped on Simon for a few moments with a look of curiosity and when they landed on Jace her eyes widened.  
Clary said "Oh look Jace, it looks like you have another fan!"  
He grinned "Why wouldn't she be?"  
" Your name is Jace? As in Jonathan?"  
Everyone turned there attention to the girl. Clary was puzzled, she thought the girl knew who Jace was.  
"Yes, wh-"  
"What's your last name" the girl blurted.  
Jace cocked his head and said, "Why do you want to know. And why should I tell you?"  
"Well, you kind of brought me here and I have no clue who you are, so I think before I tell you anything I should at least know your names," she remarked.  
"Well someone has an attitude! But I am a kindhearted person so I shall tell you our names," Jace replied snarkily. "That girl over there is Isabelle Lightwood, the boy next to her is Alec Lightwood, the other, geekier boy is Simon Lewis, he's a vampire, and the girl with the red hair is Clarissa Morgenstern."  
A worried look came upon her face. "Morgenstern?" she said.  
"Don't worry, your not with my brother. I'm not going to hurt you, none of us are." Clary quickly added.  
She nodded and looked at Jace again. "You still haven't told me your last name"  
" My name is Jace Lightwood, happy now?"  
" Lightwood? Oh ok," she said disappointedly.  
" So now can you tell us your name, what your doing here, and how you got here?"  
She swallowed and said "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me. You'd think me crazy."  
"Just tell us" Jace insisted.  
"Fine," she said. "My name is Matti."  
Jace cleared his throat and said " I told you my last name, now it's your turn."  
She looked at him with weary eyes but nodded.  
" My name is Matti, Matti Herondale." 


	3. The Little Herondale

The Little Secret-

Chapter 3

"Alec, I should have listened to you! This is a trap!" Jace hollered. "Your lying! What are you! Are you working for Sebastian? TELL US!" He screamed at the girl.  
A look of worry and sadness came across her face and she said "What are you talking about! I told you you wouldn't believe me! I'm not lying!"  
Her eyes started to water and Clary could tell she was trying to keep tears from spilling.  
" Yes you are! There is no way you are a Herondale! They died a long time ago! I should know!"  
" That's why you wouldn't believe me! They made everyone believe they died! I'll tell you everything! Just stop falsely accusing me!" She yelled back. Then a look of confusion came on her face and she said softly "What do you mean you should know?"  
Jace sighed and replied "My name is really Jace Herondale although I go by Lightwood because I was raised by them. It's quite a long story that I might tell, but I would like to hear yours first."  
Matti looked at him with a mix of happiness and sadness in her eyes and whispered softly "I knew you weren't dead."

" Actually at one or two points I was dead," Jace said. Clary playfully slapped him and grinned.  
"You better do a better job being a big brother with her than you were when you thought you were mine," she replied.  
Matti gave them a strange look. "Your siblings?"  
Jace then brushed his lips against Clary. "Long story, but no, if you couldn't tell from that."  
The girl sneered at him and said "So what would you like me to confide about my horrid childhood first? Or should I start at the way I literally landed myself in hell?"  
"I think it would be best if you started from the beginning," Clary answered.  
"Well, according to my religion, it all started with Adam and Ev-"  
"You know what she meant you little brat," Alec said harshly. He seemed to have lost all patience with this little whatever she was.  
A look of hurt came upon her face, then she plastered a look of fake innocence. "Oh my, I am so sorry! I am merely just a confused innocent little child."  
"Enough! Just please tell the story Matti," Clary interjected.  
The girl sighed. "I'm sorry I'm just not in the best mood. Ok, I will tell the story how I learned it to be true, but my Mother, Father, and Uncle Valentine told me different, making themselves seem innocent."  
A look of horror came upon Jace's face, and Matti seemed to notice because she immediately said, "I have learned now that he is quite the villain in the shadow world, but he was, for the most part, kind to me. Let me explain from their "death". Everyone assumed Father was dead in a demon attack, but he faked his death, just as Valentine had. Valentine had brought him to a hideaway to stay in for a while. One day Stephen remembered Celine and the baby. He begged Valentine to rescue her, but Valentine completely agreed that she and the child should be saved. So when Valentine and his sidekick of sorts, Hodge Starkweather, went to find her, they found her passed out, bleeding and close to near death. Valentine and Hodge desperately needed the baby for some reason I don't know so they took her back to the hideaway, leaving a fake body of course, cut the baby out of her, then healed her with an irazate. I was told that the child died because it was premature, since mother was only 8-months pregnant. I never really believed that though."  
She paused and looked at Jace.  
"I always had a feeling that you were still alive, but I couldn't reach you. I used to imagine what you looked like, how my life would have been different if you were around. So when I saw you, and you were exactly the image I had seen in my mind, I kind of freaked out. I assumed you were a demon of sorts. But , enough about that, I'll get back to the story," Matti said teary eyed.  
Jace felt compelled to hug her, but decided against it and curiously continued to listen.  
"Ok, now about how I came to be." 


	4. Valentine's Girl

The Little Secret-  
Chapter 4

"Valentine, for some reason felt obliged to need another child. He said, just incase all his children go wrong, which confused me. He begged my parents to have another child, and them being his followers, tried. He fed my parents angel blood constantly, and then finally my mother became pregnant. Valentine continued to supplement her with angel blood whenever he was with them and then, Matti Christina Herondale was born."  
"Wait a second," Jace interrupted. "You have extra angel blood? Do you have any... special abilities?"  
Matti looked around, and avoided Jace's gaze. "Um.. not really. I mean, maybe it increases my speed, strength, fighting abilities but nothing really major."  
"Mmhmm." Jace didn't believe it for a second, but decided not to push her... yet.  
"Now, after I was born, my parents weren't very pleased that I was a girl and felt like they had disappointed Valentine, knowing he wanted a warrior, but Valentine was more than happy, insisting that a girl can be a warrior too. So "Uncle Valentine" came to visit me whenever he could, training me to fight and be a good warrior. My parents mainly ignored me and pretended I didn't exist. They didn't really care about me."  
"I'm sure that's not true," Clary insisted.  
" Oh but Clarissa, it is," Matti continued, "They constantly told me themselves. I was just a favor to Valentine, and was merely a permanent annoying houseguest to them. Valentine cared about me. He said I gave him hope, and that I was the daughter he never got to have. He would confide to me sometimes. About a woman named Jocelyen. About his plans for the future. Of course I didn't understand, but it made me feel important. It was like I was an adult to him. Although, in my conditions of never being let outside and being raised as I was, I had to mature quickly. When I was around, I don't know, 10, possibly 11, Valentine didn't come back. Then, strangely enough, my parents left. I honestly didn't know what happened but I assume that they were helping Valentine with his plans, although I know they are dead because they never came back. I was basically on my on for a year, fending off whatever we had. When I ran out of food, I eventually found my way outside. I stayed wherever I could with whoever I could. I passed institutes, learned information and witnessed the attacks. Eventually I heard word of Sebastian and his trail of chaos. I though of how Valentine told me I could change the world. I know he meant it in his own evil and menacing way, but I took it the way I though it was. I decided I would try and defeat Sebastian. So, I made my way to New York, went to the Seelie court, andsnuckpasttotheportaltogettohell. That's all the story" She finished hurriedly.  
Jace glared at her. "Your hiding something, I can tell. Spill."

She bit her lip. "Ok, ok the angel blood gave me a special ability. I don't know how I do it, or to what extent, but I can make people see myself as anything I want. Not shape shifting, more like I can turn myself into a glamour. It's strange, but that's how I got myself through the Seelie court. Now I've been here for a week or so, I just ran out of food and water, so I decided to attack as Jace and Alec witnessed. It didn't go as I intended, especially when I had to play dead when the Endarkend cornered me, but hey I'm still alive, and I've met my dead brother who is actually alive so good for me!" She said sarcastically.  
"And how old are you?" Simon asked.  
"12. I kind of implied it in the story, although it included math. By the looks of you I assumed you could do 11+1."  
Jace cracked up at that remark. Simon blushed but didn't reply.  
"Wow, she is like a mini, girl version of Jace," said Isabelle.  
"But not at all as good looking," the devil himself added.  
"Well, I am covered in dirt, number one, and, number two, in your dreams pretty boy," she remarked.  
"Well, I think I have won this round because you just called me pretty."  
Matti scrunched up her face but then giggled.  
"Ok now, while Isabelle, Alec, Simon and I discuss battle strategy, Clary is going to take you to get cleaner, ok? Then we will tell you our story and fill you in on strategy."  
Clary offered a hand to Matti. She nodded, and made her way with Clary, waving goodbye as she did so.


End file.
